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THE HOBBIT - THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a 2014 epic fantasy film, directed by Peter Jackson. It is the third and final installment in the three-part film adaptation based on the novel The Hobbit by''' J. R. R. Tolkien', following ''An 'Unexpected Journey'' (2012) and ''The Desolation of Smaug'' (2013). It stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Richard Armitage, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Aidan Turner, Billy Connolly, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee and Hugo Weaving. The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies was released on 11 December 2014 in New Zealand and on 17 December 2014 in the United States. As of January 16, 2015, it has grossed over $786 million, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2014 and the 49th highest-grossing film of all time. At the 87th Academy Awards, the film received a nomination for Best Sound Editing. * '''Directed by: Peter Jackson * Produced by: Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Weiner, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson * Written by: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro * Story by: J.R.R. Tolkien * Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom * Music by: Howard Shore * Cinematography: Andrew Lesnie * Edited by: Jabez Olsen * Country: New Zealand, U.S.A. * Language: English * Running time: 144 minutes * Budget: $250 million * Box Office: $956 million * Release date: December 1, 2014 * Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures Plot The film begins right after the end of "The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug". Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the Dwarves of Thorin's Company watch from the Lonely Mountain of Erebor how the dragon Smaug is destroying Laketown. In Laketown, during the attack of Smaug, Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) manages to break out of prison and kill Smaug with the black arrow he had left, and the dragon's falling body crushes the fleeing Master of Laketown. The citizens of Laketown escape from the now destroyed and on fire city. Bard is chosen as the new leader of the citizens, and the Laketown people decide, under the advice of Bard, to seek refuge in the ruins of Dale. Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) leave the Laketown people and travel to investigate Mount Gundabad. Also leaving the Laketown people are Fili (Dean O'Gorman), Kili (Aidan Turner), Bofur (James Nesbitt) and Oin (Adam Brown). The four arrive at Erebor, there are informed by Bilbo that Thorin (Richard Armitage) has being driven mad because of all the treasures of Erebor, and has been inflicted with Smaug's "dragon sickness" as he searched for the precious Arkenstone. It is revealed that Bilbo actually stole the Arkenstone from Smaug but knows it should be hidden from Thorin since the Arkenstone will corrupt him even more. The mad and corrupted Thorin orders the entrance of Lonely Mountain be sealed off by the dwalves to prevent attacks from people who might want the treasure of the mountain. Meanwhile, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) is imprisioned in Dol Guldur by Sauron and his servants. So Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), who's later joined by Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Saruman (Christopher Lee) to help her, arrives at Dol Guldur to free Gandalf from the Dark Forces. After she defeats the Orcs of Dul Guldor and rescues Gandalf, Galadriel is confronted by the Nazgul (human spirits, ancient followers of Sauron). So Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman fight against the Nazgul and win the battle, so the Nazgul escape. When Sauron confronts the group, Galadriel uses her powers and Eärendil's light to banish Sauron and the Nazgul from the fortress. Saruman tells Elrond to take the exhausted Galadriel to safety while he deals with Sauron. Gandalf is taken by Radagast (Sylvester McCoy) to a safe place, but he leaves Radagast for Erebor to warn the dwalves and Bilbo about the Orc army approaching the Mountain of Erebor. The orc Azog (Manu Bennett), marching on Erebor with his vast Orc army, sends his son Bolg (John Tui) to Gundabad to summon their other army. Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolg's army, bolstered by Goblins and giant bats. While Bard and the Laketown survivors shelter in Dale, Thranduil (Lee Pace) and his elf army arrives with supplies and aid, and forms an alliance with Bard, wishing to claim a necklace of white gems from the Mountain of Erebor. Bard attempts to negotiate and reason with Thorin about the treasures of the mountain to avoid war. Thorin refuses to cooperate, much to the company's dismay. After Gandalf arrives at Dale, Bilbo sneaks out of Erebor to hand the Arkenstone over to Thranduil and Bard. The next day, Bard and Thranduil's armies gather at the gates of Erebor, offering to the Arkenstone for gold. Thorin learns of Bilbo's deception and nearly kills him, before Gandalf forces Thorin to release Bilbo. Meanwhile, Thorin's cousin Dáin (Billy Connolly) arrives with a Dwarf army and prepares to attack the Elves and Men, But, when the battle for the treasures of Erebor is about to begin, Azog's army arrive. With the Orcs outnumbering Dain's army, Thranduil's and Bard's forces, along with Gandalf and Bilbo, join the battle against the Orcs. Inside Erebor, Thorin, refusing to fight, suffers an hallucination before regaining his sanity and leading his company into battle against the Orcs. While the other Dwarves of the company aid Dain's forces, Thorin rides towards Ravenhill with Dwalin, Fíli, and Kíli to kill Azog and force the Orc army to retreat. They are joined by Tauriel, Legolas and Bilbo. Azog battles Thorin after killing Fili, while Kili dies protecting Tauriel from Bolg. After Legolas kills Bolg, the Great Eagles arrive with Radagast and Beorn, and the Orc armies are quickly overcome. Thorin kills Azog, but the king of the dwalves succumbs to his injuries and dies but makes peace with Bilbo before. Bilbo bids farewell to the remaining dwarves and journeys home to the Shire with Gandalf. As the two part, Gandalf admits his knowledge of Bilbo's ring and cautions him against using it. Bilbo returns to Bag End. Sixty years later, an old Bilbo receives a visit from Gandalf and runs out to greet him. Cast '- Martin Freeman' - Bilbo Baggins '- Ian McKellen' - Gandalf The Grey/Mithrandil '- Richard Armitage' - Thorin Oakenshield II '- Orlando Bloom' - Legolas Greenleaf '- Evangeline Lilly' - Tauriel '- Luke Evans' - Bard The Bowman '- Lee Pace' - Thranduil '- Aidan Turner' - Kili '- Cate Blanchett' - Lady Galadriel '- Christopher Lee' - Saruman The White '- Billy Connolly' - Dain '- Hugo Weaving' - Elrond '- Graham McTavish' - Dwalin '- Mark Hadlow' - Dori '- Sylvester McCoy' - Radagast The Brown Music As with all the previous films of Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth saga (The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy), Howard Shore has composed the score. Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin Took in The Lord of the Rings, wrote and recorded the song "The Last Goodbye" to be played over the end credits of the film. Callum Hofler of Entertainment Junkie gave the score an overtly positive review, stating, "Shore has had to pull out all the stops to produce something suitably satisfying, to reward fans of the series for their patience, persistence and support. After running through the album numerous times, 'satisfying' is not the term I would assign this; 'emotionally-poignant', 'colossal' and 'monumental' are all far more accurate." Hofler concluded with, "If there was any way this franchise needed to conclude, than this is the picturesque and most desirable variation possible." He awarded the special edition of the score a 9.3 out of a possible 10. Erin Willard of SciFi Mafia was generally positive, except that she noted, "There came a point near the end of the first of the two discs where I finally just had to pull out the earbuds; the constant and increasing dissonance started to actually hurt my ears." She awarded the score a 4 out of 5 stars. Track list: Disc 1: Disc 2: Production The Hobbit was originally envisioned as a two-part film, but Jackson confirmed plans for a third film on 30 July 2012, turning his adaptation of The Hobbit into a trilogy. According to Jackson, the third film would contain the Battle of the Five Armies and make extensive use of the appendices that Tolkien wrote to expand the story of Middle-Earth (published in the back of The Return of the King). Jackson also stated that while the third film will largely make use of footage originally shot for the first and second films, it would require additional filming as well. The third film was titled There and Back Again in August 2012. In April 2014, Jackson changed the title of the film to The Battle of the Five Armies as he thought the new title better suited the situation of the film.12 He stated on his Facebook page, "There and Back Again felt like the right name for the second of a two film telling of the quest to reclaim Erebor, when Bilbo's arrival there, and departure, were both contained within the second film. But with three movies, it suddenly felt misplaced—after all, Bilbo has already arrived 'there' in the Desolation of Smaug." Shaun Gunner, the chairman of The Tolkien Society, supported the decision: "The Battle of the Five Armies much better captures the focus of the film but also more accurately channels the essence of the story Release The world première of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was held in London at Leicester Square on 1 December 2014. The film opened in theatres on 11 December 2014 in New Zealand, on 12 December in the United Kingdom and on 17 December in the United States. Warner Bros. released the film on 18 December 2014 in Greece and 26 December in Australia. The film is scheduled to be released in China on January 23, 2015 Reception As of February 1, 2015, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has earned $251,946,522 in the United States and Canada and $664,400,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $916,346,522. Worldwide, it is the''' second highest-grossing film of 2014''' behind Transformers: Age of Extinction and the''' 31th highest-grossing film of all time'. Its grosses exceeded its estimated $250 million production cost 12 days after its release. The film reached a milestone of $100 million in 4 days, $300 million in 12 days, $400 million in 16 days, $500 million in 18 days, $600 million in 20 days and $700 million in 27 days. In North America, the film is the fifth highest-grossing film of 2014. ''The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opened in North America on Tuesday, December 16, 2014 at 7 p.m across 3,100 theaters and was widened to 3,875 theaters the next day. It earned $11.2 million from Tuesday midnight shows which was the second highest of 2014, matching the record previously set by Guardians of the Galaxy and both behind The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 ($17 million). The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was released internationally across 15,395 screens. In its opening weekend of release overseas (December 12–14), the film performed well, earning $122.2 million from 37 markets (including the revenue it earned from its first two days of release) topping the box office and outperformed the previous two installments on a local currency and admissions basis. 71% of the total gross came from 3D showings, which was $86.7 million. The film achieved numerous records in international markets during its opening weekend. It set an all-time Warner Bros. opening record in Russia ($13.75 million), in Argentina ($2.1 million), and in Sweden and Finland. It also set a 2014 opening record in Germany ($20.5 million), France ($15.05 million) and in Spain ($6.5 million). Other high openings were recorded in Korea ($10.3 million), Poland ($5.3 million), Italy ($6.05 million), Malaysia ($2.85 million) and Taiwan ($2.75 million). Critical response: MTV reported that reviews for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies have been "generally positive" with critics praising the film "for its energy, shorter running time and satisfying closure." According to IBT reviews for the film have been positive, with critics "praising director Peter Jackson's effort at transforming J.R.R Tolkien's fantasy novel into an epic adventure film trilogy." Critics say that the film "will satisfy" fans but "otherwise, it may be worth waiting until it's available to rent," according to CBS News. The''' Los Angeles Times' said the critical consensus is that the film is "a flawed but fitting finale to the ''Hobbit trilogy." The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 60% approval rating with an average rating of 6.3/10 based on 211 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Though somewhat overwhelmed by its own spectacle, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ends Peter Jackson's second Middle-earth trilogy on a reasonably satisfying note." The film also holds a Metacritic score of 59 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Scott Foundas of Variety said, "The result is at once the trilogy's most engrossing episode, its most expeditious (at a comparatively lean 144 minutes) and also its darkest - both visually and in terms of the forces that stir in the hearts of men, dwarves and orcs alike." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "After six films, 13 years and 1031 minutes of accumulated running time, Peter Jackson has concluded his massively remunerative genuflection at the altar of J.R.R. Tolkien with a film that may be the most purely entertaining of any in the collection." Andrew Pulver of The Guardian said, "This film is a fitting cap to an extended series that, if nothing else, has transformed Tolkien's place in the wider culture." Chris Tilly from IGN Movies said, "There's a little too much padding in the final Hobbit flick, and the best sequence is without doubt the film's first. But the central battle is indeed spectacular, and as 'The Age of Orc' approaches, it rounds out this particular story in stirring and emotional fashion." Russell Baillie of The New Zealand Herald said The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is "something less than the supposed 'defining chapter' of Jackson's time in Middle-earth as it's been billed. But action-wise, it certainly goes out with a very pleasing bang." Conversely, Inkoo Kang of TheWrap said, "The 144-minute running time showcases Jackson's worst tendencies: eons-long battle scenes, sloppy and abrupt resolutions, portentous romances, off-rhythm comic timing, and, newly in this case, patience-testing fan service." Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph described the film as "a paragraph on steroids" that was "neither very terrible nor remotely unexpected. It's a series of stomping footnotes in search of a climax." The BBC's Nicholas Barber wrote that with the Hobbit series Jackson had succeeded in bridging the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and that The Battle of the Five Armies was a "colossal technical achievement", but he also criticised that the film as such was not compelling because of its repetitive battle scenes and a lack of plot. Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times said, "Bilbo may fully learn a sense of friendship and duty, and have quite a story to tell, but somewhere along the way, Mr. Jackson loses much of the magic.